Conservation and Management

Ryan Peek | 2023-05-09
Elkhorn Slough CTP

One thing to remember is to talk to the animals. If you do, they will talk back to you. But if you don’t talk to them, they won’t talk back to you, then you won’t understand. And when you don’t understand, you will fear, and when you fear, you will destroy the animals, and if you destroy the animals you will destroy yourself

Chief Dan George | Tseil-Waututh Nation (1899-1981)

Overview

Snorkeling

  • Adult Surveys
  • Underwater calling
  • Tadpole surveys
  • Egg Mass (EM) surveys
  • eDNA monitoring (methodology & application)
  • River Size vs. Survey Techniques
  • Detection Inhibitors
  • Equipment
  • Decontamination

References

  • PARC 2013 Gabrielle J. Graeter, Kurt A. Buhlmann, Lucas R. Wilkinson, J. Whitfield Gibbons

  • Smithsonian 1994 Heyer, W. R., M. D. Donnelly, R. W. McDiarmid, L. C. Hayek, M. S. Foster

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Definitions

Definitions Measuring and Monitoring Biological Diversity: Standard Methods for Amphibians. 1994. Eds, Heyer et al.

  • Relative abundance: proportional representation of species in a sample
  • Inventory: study of a specific area, site, or habitat to determine the number of species present (i.e. species richness)
  • Monitoring: study of the abundance of individuals in one or more populations of a species at a site through time
  • Mark-recapture techniques: methods for determining population size that involve capturing, marking, and releasing animals, and subsequently recapturing or re-sighting them one or more times.
  • Visual Encounter Survey (VES): estimate the diversity (number of. different species) and abundance (number of different individuals) of animals at a particular location

Workshop Roadmap

  • Natural and Unnatural History
  • Breeding Timing & Plasticity
  • Status Review and Listing
  • Habitat
  • Basic Ecology
  • Survey Methods
  • Conservation

Workshop Etiquette

Things to Do

  • Act respectfully
  • Ask for help in chat or “raise hand”
  • Turn your camera on or off as desired
  • Please mute yourself when not speaking

Life History I

The Basics

  1. Adults breed in the spring (amplexus)
  2. Females pick oviposition location
  3. External fertilization, egg masses ~2-3 weeks
  4. After hatching tadpoles cannot swim or often see
  5. Sink to bottom for 5 days, typically jet black
  6. Tadpoles require 2.5 months 18C or greater
  7. Metamorphosis in late summer/fall

Rana boylii Calling

Resources

  • Here are some additional resources about the topic TOPIC
    • How we store and organize data
    • Templates for field data collection
  • Some links or survey stuff here
    1. Survey VES sheet
    2. Survey Habitat sheet
  • Summary statement about surveys for frogs
    • Frogs are X and also can be Y